Salk Institute Gets $6.5M from Swiss-Based Nomis Foundation

Squeaking in just under the wire, a
$6.5 million gift from the Nomis Foundation
has put the Salk
Institute over the $31 million mark for money raised from
foundations and individual philanthropists for the 2009-2010 fiscal
year.

The Institute,
which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year
, says that
the latest gift brings the Swiss-based foundation's total donations
to $18 million. An $11.5 million gift two years ago helped launch
the Salk's Nomis Center for Immunobiology and Microbial
Pathogenesis. The Nomis center researches diseases that develop
from chronic infections, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

Of the latest gift, $2 million will establish the Nomis
Foundation Chair, a senior scientist endowed chair that will be
awarded to the Center's director, Prof. John A. T. Young. And in
keeping with their
Joan Klein
Jacobs and Irwin Mark Jacobs Senior Scientist Endowed Chair
Challenge
, the Jacobses will chip in an additional $1 million.
Their challenge is intended to create 10 new permanent chairs in
support of senior faculty members, helping them get the financial
stability to allow them to concentrate on research.

Irwin M. Jacobs, a co-founder of wireless giant Qualcomm, is
chairman of
the Salk
Institute's board of trustees.
Joan Klein Jacobs devotes much
of her work and philanthropy to the local arts community, along
with her husband.

An additional $2.5 million will fund a fellowship program for 10
promising scientists to become leading researchers. The remaining
$2 million will establish an endowment to buy new technology and
equipment to help the Nomis Center's scientists in their
immunobiology work.

The remaining $2 million will establish an endowment to fund the
purchase of cutting-edge technology and equipment to ensure the
NCIMP remains at the forefront of research in Immunobiology.

Nomis is the European foundation established by former Salk
Trustee G.H. "Heini" Thyssen.

Salk also said its bequests totaled $6 million, most of which
went to the General Fund. The fund is a pool of unrestricted
funding that the institute can use for its immediate financial
needs.